Staying Afloat

These days, keeping oneself above water, financially speaking, is a tough trick to pull off. Just this week, the price of petroleum-based products increased yet again, with LPG prices soaring another 22-35 pesos. It seems that that’s all that’s happening, prices increasing without let up. Every time oil prices go up, it is inevitable that the price of all other products go up- be it grocery items like canned goods or fresh produce. This is because almost everything is connected to oil in some way, shape or form. Of course, vegetables need to be transported to the grocery stores from the farms and that’s why their prices go up too whenever there is an oil price hike.

It is really difficult to keep up with all these price hikes since one’s spending power is greatly diminished by these increases. Just a year ago, a thousand pesos was enough to buy the grocery items we need for a period of two weeks. Now, we need around 1, 400- 1, 600 pesos for the same items. Also, our electricity bill is up by around 300- 400 pesos from last year. The same goes for the other utilities like water, phone, etc.

It is especially tough to keep up with these price hikes because one’s salary remains the same despite all these price increases. One’s salary only increases once a year and that is just not enough to keep up.

I think everyone will agree with me when I say that these constant and never ending price hikes are enough to make a person want to pull their hair out in frustration. It is just so frustrating to not be able to do anything but roll over and deal with these price increases.

It is but natural for people to find ways of coping with the times and in my case, I took several steps to make sure that I survive the continuous price hikes. One of the steps I took was to watch over our electricity and water consumption. Before, I was less watchful of these things and would think nothing of keeping the TV on even when there’s no one watching anything. Now, if no one is really interested in watching a specific program and the TV is on mostly for the ambient noise, I make sure to turn it off. With water, I am more inclined to sort of “recycle” now. For example, water used for rinsing plates is also used to flush the toilet. Of course, this is tough to do sometimes because, one; not everyone in the family has the patience to do this ( I must admit, even I am guilty of not always doing this ) and, two; the water from rinsing kitchen utensils is sometimes filled with too much “debris” to be used again. Also, I now pay closer attention to all our faucets in the house, making sure that they are completely turned off.

Another thing I did to cope with the rising prices is to take jobs on the side. With the price of commodities increasing constantly, it is difficult to make ends meet even with a regular job and a steady income. I took on writing jobs, things that I can accomplish on the side. It is very fortunate that nowadays there are a lot of opportunities for a person to make extra money. It hasn’t always been the case. It really is a blessing that now, people can get part time work that they can do in their own homes, at their convenience. This gives people like me another way to earn money without having to give up my other sources of income.

These days, unless you are one of the lucky few, you cannot afford to just rest on your laurels and expect to get everything you need to survive from one income alone. Although there are some who are fortunate enough to make a very good living, most people earn just enough to make ends meet. So if you want to be able to afford certain luxuries or if you want to be able to set some money aside for the future, taking steps to ensure that you keep your bills down and finding ways to earn extra money are things a person cannot avoid doing.

Despite these perpetual price hikes which are both unavoidable and inevitable, I believe there are things we can still be grateful for. We can be grateful that there are things we can do to keep our expenses down and there are ways we can earn extra income. We just have to be smart about these and learn to roll with the punches.